arasite drew
us back from the brink."

"I don't understand," Brion said.

"A simple matter of definition. Before you came we had no way to
deal with the magter here on Dis. They really were alien to us.
Nothing they did made sense--and nothing we did seemed to have the
slightest effect on them. But you discovered that they were _sick_,
and that's something we know how to handle. We're united again; my
rebel army was instantly absorbed into the rest of the Nyjord forces
by mutual agreement. Doctors and nurses are on the way here now.
Plans were put under way to evacuate what part of the population we
could until the bombs were found. The planet is united again, and
working hard."

"Because the magter are sick, infected by a destructive life form?"
Brion asked.

"Exactly so," Professor Krafft said. "We are civilized, after all.
You can't expect us to fight a war--and you surely can't expect us
to ignore the plight of sick neighbors?"

"No ... you surely can't," Brion said, sitting down heavily.
He looked at Ulv, to whom the speech had been incomprehensible.
Beyond him, Hys wore his most cynical expression as he considered
the frailties of his people.

"Hys," Brion called out, "you translate all that into Disan and
explain to Ulv. I wouldn't dare."

XIX

Dis was a floating golden ball, looking like a schoolroom globe in
space. No clouds obscured its surface, and from this distance it
seemed warm and attractive set against the cold darkness. Brion
almost wished he were back there now, as he sat shivering inside the
heavy coat. He wondered how long it would be before his confused
body-temperature controls decided to turn off the summer adjustment.
He hoped it wouldn't be as sudden or as drastic as turning it on
had been.

Delicate as a dream, Lea's reflection swam in space next to the
planet. She had come up quietly behind him in the spaceship's
corridor, only her gentle breath and mirrored face telling him
she was there. He turned quickly and took her hands in his.

"You're looking infinitely better," he said.

"Well, I should," she said, pushing back her hair in an unconscious
gesture with her hand. "I've been doing nothing but lying in the
ship's hospital, while you were having such a fine time this last
week. Rushing around down there shooting all the magter."

"Just gassing them," he told her. "The Nyjorders can't bring
themselves to kill any more, even if it does raise their own
casualty rate